Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has given a detailed progress report on two of the youngest players in his squad, Kutlwano Letlhaku and Siyabonga Mabena.
Letlhaku has featured in all three games so far this season for Sundowns with indications showing that he will be more involved than he was last term.
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While all of this happens, there have been offers tabled for The Brazilians from Denmark and Portugal ahead of Letlhaku heading out to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile from September 27 to October 19.
With Mabena, he is back available for selection after recovering from injury.
"I would make it clear, and it is important that we understand that it is not Kutlwano Letlhaku or Mabena that are going to make Sundowns win the Champions League at the moment," says Cardoso.
"It is not those players that will make us champions at the end of the season.
"It is important that everybody understands that Mabena didn’t play for one year and you cannot expect that now he will be the best on the pitch and get Man of the Match every day because he will not.
"The coach will not give him that opportunity because he is not in the moment to have 90 minutes on his legs.
"He is a player that is still very dangerous regarding his injury on the knee to put him for 90 minutes to play.
"Kutlwano had seven or eight appearances in the first team of Sundowns last year, no one should expect that Kutlwano should now carry Sundowns because he will not be able to do it.
"What we have to expect is that the coach will work very hard with them and all the youngsters that are in the team to make them better players.
"Those players are important for the future of Mamelodi Sundowns and I have to take care of their future by exposing them gradually to the competition in the level that they deserve and train for and managing the moments for that.
"They will get more chances for sure and it should be understood that throwing youngsters in the fire is not the best way to make them become top players.
"We need to be careful in how we do it, find the right moments to do it.
"We develop young players by teaching them and making them strong.
"Yesterday, Kutlwano sent me a message saying, ‘Coach, thank you for everything you are doing for me’.
"And that is because you are giving them love and that is how you develop youngsters, giving them opportunities, showing them when they make mistakes, showing them the good things, and working with them every day.
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"We believe in them so much, but we will also find a way to make them help the team.
"This is because our approach for them is that they will become important at Sundowns for many years and not just a couple of months and then people start saying they are not good because they make mistakes.
"They will make mistakes because they still don’t understand what you want in every moment in the team," says Cardoso.
Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images
